126 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF TEA. 



A strong immovable smooth table, with the planks of 

 which it is formed well joined together, so that no apertures 

 exist for the juice of the leaf to run through, is the best 

 thing to roll on. If covered with a fine seetul pattie mat, 

 nailed down over the edges of the table, a still greater 

 security is given against the loss of any sap, and I believe 

 the slightly rough surface of the mat enables the leaf to roll 

 better. An edging of wood one inch above the surface of 

 the table should be screwed on to the edges over the mat, if 

 there is one, to prevent leaf falling off. 



The leaf is rolled by a line of men on each side of such a 

 table (4^ feet is a good width for it) passing up from man to 

 man, from the bottom of the table to the top. The passage 

 of each handful of roll from man to man is regulated by the 

 man at the end, who, when the roll in his hand is ready 

 (that is, rolled enough), forms it into a tight compressed 

 ball (a truncated shape is the most convenient) and puts it 

 away on an adjacent stand. When he does this, the roll 

 each man has passes up one step. 



The roll is ready to make up into a ball, when it is in a 

 soft mashy state, and when in the act of rolling it gives out 

 juice freely. None of this juice must be lost, it must be 

 mopped up into the roll, again and again in its passage up 

 the table, and finally into the ball, when made up. 



There will be some coarse leaves in the roll which 

 cannot be twisted. These, if left, would give much red 

 leaf in the Tea. They should be picked out by, say, the 

 third or fourth man from the head of the table, for it is only 

 when the leaf has been partly rolled that they show. The 

 man who picks out the coarse leaf should not roll at all. 

 He should spread the roll, and pick out as much as he can, 

 between the time of receiving and passing it on. In no case 

 allow roll to accumulate by him, for if so kept it hardens 

 and dries, and gives extra work to the last rollers to bring it 



